; Gg : 'g' as in "great" (At times the 'g' will give off a throaty sound)

+

; Gg : 'g' as in "great" (sometimes giving off a throaty sound)

−

; Gjgj : 'dge' as in "dodge" [you'll get by with a 'j' sound]

+

; Gjgj : 'dge' as in "dodge"

−

; Hh : 'h' as in "helicopter" [slightly aspirated]

+

; Hh : 'h' as in "helicopter" (slightly aspirated]

−

; Jj : 'y' as in "year"

+

; Jj : 'y' as in "year"

−

; Kk : 'k' as in "bank"

+

; Kk : 'k' as in "bank"

−

; Ll : 'l' as in "milk"

+

; Ll : 'l' as in "milk"

−

; Llll : 'll' as in "mill" (As pronounced in Great Britain)

+

; Llll : 'll' as in "mill" (as pronounced in [[Great Britain]])

−

; Mm : 'm' as in "mother"

+

; Mm : 'm' as in "mother"

; Nn : 'n' as in "nest"

; Nn : 'n' as in "nest"

−

; Njnj : 'ni' as in "onion" [same as the Spanish 'ñ' sound]

+

; Njnj : 'ni' as in "onion" (same as the Spanish 'ñ' sound)

; Pp : 'p' as in "problem"

; Pp : 'p' as in "problem"

−

; Qq : 'ch' as in "chat" ['q' sound as in "quick" only for foreign words]

+

; Qq : 'ch' as in "chat" (as in "quick" only for foreign words]

−

; Rr : 'r' as in "rico" ( trilled )

+

; Rr : 'r' as in "rico" (trilled)

−

; Rrrr : 'rr' as in "perro" ( strongly trilled )

+

; Rrrr : 'rr' as in "perro" (strongly trilled)

; Ss : 's' as in "hospital"

; Ss : 's' as in "hospital"

; Shsh : 'sh' as in "ship"

; Shsh : 'sh' as in "ship"

Revision as of 13:44, 25 April 2010

Albanian is the national language of Albania. It is an official language of Kosovo and spoken by the majority of the population as a native tongue. Albanian also enjoys regional status in the Republic of Macedonia.

Albanian is an easy language to know and learn since most of their letters does not change sounds as other languages do so you'll get the same sounds all the time.

Pronunciation guide

Albanian is written as it's pronunced. The Albanian alphabet consists of 36 letters of the Latin script. The alphabet was standardized in 1909. Albanian is a branch of Indo-European and considered to be the only language derived from the extinct Illyrian language. Albanian also is spoken in Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, South Serbia, and Turkey.

Stress

For the vast majority of words, the main stress falls on the last word of a phrase, on the last stem of a compound word and on the last syllable of a word.

Vowels

Аа

'a' as in "far"

Ee

'e' as in "elephant"

Ii

'ee' as in "feet"

Oo

'o' as in "obey"

Uu

'oo' as in "moon"

Ëë

'u' as in "up" or 'a' in "above" (it is silent at times at the end of a word)

Yy

'y' as the French 'u' or the German 'ü'. To pronounce the sound, place your mouth in the position you would when you say 'oo' as in "moon", but say 'ee' as in "feet" instead. The closest sound in English as is 'ue' in "blue" or 'ew' as in "flew".

Money

The Albanian currency is Lëkk [luhkk]. And Albanians count money according to the old money count, i.e. 1 new Lëkk equals 10 old Lëkk. In supermarkets they will show the prices in new Lëkk, but in openmarkets or orally people will say or ask 10 times more than the neccesary price. If you are asked to pay 1000 (one thousand) Lëkk, you need to pay only 100 Lëkk. This is only if they ask you in Albanian, and it is better to clarify do they mean new or old Lëkk.

Driving

You need to remember that most of the road signs are in picture form and not by words like they do in America. Some such as the common 'STOP' sign shall be seen in major cities in Albania. But get a European road guide that would show which road signs you wish to know.